FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1994
1994 - 1287.PDF
AIRBUS SUPER TRANSPORTER The "Beluga's " main cargo door is the biggest such structure ever built for an aircraft a perfectly good runway." An intensive study of the various air craft options then began. At the heart of the requirement was the need for an aircraft big enough to carry every major Airbus component, including the heaviest planned in the near future: the wing for the expect ed growth version of the A340. Four aircraft were required, with an option on a fifth, and the development time was extremely limited — to just four years — because of the need to start replacing the ageing Super Guppys in 1995. "The choice was either to go for an existing transport, or for something com pletely new," says Drager. In the former category, there was the Antonov An-124 and the six-engined An-225, while, from the USA, the choice included the Boeing 747, Lockheed C-5 and the McDonnell Douglas C-17. "We also looked at conver sions," says Drager. The Boeing 767, Ilyushin 11-86, and the Airbus A300B4 and A300-600R were all considered. "After a while, it became clear that we could not use an existing aircraft, because there wasn't enough space in any of them," says Drager, "and we didn't want to make any of the Airbus parts smaller because it would have complicated the workshare between the partners, and added greatly to the cost of replacing the Super Guppy." An idea to use a piggy-back system was also discarded, because the necessary conver sion would have been too expensive. "It was also impractical," adds Drager. BOEING OPTION Despite looking seriously at the offer from Boeing to convert the 767, the consortium, perhaps unsurprisingly, opted eventually for the Airbus A300-600R. "We were wor ried that Boeing would not have given us enough technical information," says Drager. "In the end, the Airbus solution was the best all-round proposal from the cost point of view." In 1991, SATIC was formed as a Groupement d'Interet Economique, with the specific task of managing the design, devel opment, production, delivery and product support of the Super Transporter. Membership is split 50:50 between Aerospatiale and Deutsche Aerospace Airbus. SATIC's first task was to carry out pre- design of the aircraft. Detail design was then performed by the main partners, while SATIC selected subcontractors, and created work packages. This left the mem bers of the Airbus consortium responsible for areas involving their own components, while the subcontractors received packages created by SATIC, such as the cylindrical upper shell (CASA), and hydraulic system (Dornier). "There are 15 systems and mis cellaneous work packages," says Drager, "and 11 structural packages." France's Sogerma is responsible for final assembly of the Super Transporter, which takes place at its own hangar in Toulouse. Under the arrangement with Airbus, Sogerma acquires a complete airframe, minus unneeded items such as the cabin interior. Sections are then supplied from the partner's production lines, prepared according to specific production require ments. The fuselage centre section, for example, is supplied from Aerospatiale's St Nazaire base with the top section "clipped" to the lower, in order to avoid stressing the component during transport before the wings are attached. The top section will be re-used in this way to transport other cen tre sections, says Drager. Similarly, the forward and rear fuselage sections are supplied with the "natural" top removed, leaving intact those fuselage pan els which extend above the conversion level. Sogerma then uses a specially devel oped tool to accurately cut the panels to the conversion level. The new upper sec tion is then joined to the lower by means of a longitudinal strap developed by Sogerma and Socea. P38»- Why replace the Super Guppy? The Super Guppy has been at the core of Airbus' unique method of assem bling aircraft since 1971, when the first Boeing 377 was converted by Aero- spacelines in Santa Barbara, California, USA. The second joined the fleet in 1973 and the third and fourth, which were con verted by UTA, joined in 1982 and 1983. The first aircraft will reach the end of its service life in 1996, the last in 1999. While it has per formed its job well, the Super Guppy was based on a 1953-era aircraft. "Reliability was always our worry," says SATIC president Udo Drager, "and the cost of mainten ance is quite high, and is increasing all the time." He adds that the Super Guppy transport system quickly reached capacity, so that there was little room for flexibility and growth in the production rate. "We couldn't build any more and we always knew that, if one of the aircraft was lost, the entire Airbus pro duction system would be endangered." With the sudden increase in orders for Airbuses in 1990, the consortium consid ered leasing an Antonov An-124 to cater for what would have become a produc tion rate virtually double that at the time. "Then the orders dropped off and the rate went down. — but we had learnt our les son," says Drager. Four Super Guppys form the backbone of Airbus' transportation FLIGHT INTERNA TIONAL 25-31 May, 1994 33
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
